Golden Hair
by AndieMani
Summary: Danny Dýr can't sleep, so his mother tells him a bedtime story. (Rewrite AU Promo)


It was late at night, the stars twinkling in the dark sky. The moon was full and bright, casting its dim light in the space-themed bedroom of young Danny Dýr.

The four-year-old was pacing, debating on going to his mother to sleep with her for the night, when his door creaked open. The light from the hall flooded the room, Maddie Dýr standing in the doorway. "Danny?" She asked softly, looking to her son with worry. "Why are you still up? It's way past your bedtime."

"I can't sleep, mommy," he mumbled softly, walking over to her so she could pick him up. "Tell me a story please?"

"Alright," she said, giving her son a calm smile as she picked him up. She made her way to his bed and tucked him in, sitting next to him and smoothing his hair down. "You remember the stories I've told about Thor, right?" Maddie asked with a smile.

"Yeah! He's big and strong with a huge hammer!" Danny cheered. His mother had left out the parts about the wars, as she didn't want to scare the poor child.

"Right," she chuckled, booping his nose.

"_Thor was a loud god. But he did, underneath it all, have one soft spot – and that was for his beautiful wife, whose name was Sif," Maddie started._

_He loved her tenderly and dearly. She had long, thick golden hair that flowed down her back like a field of corn. In fact, it was Sif who made the Norse people's crops grow and their fields yield long heavy ears of corn that would keep people well fed and happy. She travelled over the Northern world, and wherever there were families, farms and people tilling the land, Sif was sure to be near at hand, smoothing their path against the cruel winds, cold and winters of the North._

_Of course, as every lady knows, beautiful hair does not take care of itself. She was very proud of her hair and did not allow herself to have a bad hair day- not even once! She knew she was not the only one who was very proud of her hair, either. Her husband was very proud of it too, and often boasted of it when he was drinking to anyone who was around to listen. Morning, noon and night, Sif combed her wondrous hair with a jewelled comb, and she often washed it in pure sparkling streams, and lay it out in the sun to dry on a rock. As you can imagine, with hair as thick as hers, it took quite a while to dry."_

"Do you know how long it took to dry, mommy?" Danny asked, his curious blue eyes meeting his mother's knowing violet.

Maddie chuckled. "It took a few hours at least," she replied.

"_One day, while she was sitting on a bank of the softest moss outside her house in Asgard-"_

"Thor's home!" Danny exclaimed, having remembered the stories Maddie told of the nine realms.

"Right," his mother said with a nod.

_"Sif was drying her golden hair in the sun and went to sleep. It's easy to go to sleep in the sun when you're not doing much. And it's especially easy, if another god puts a spell on you so that nothing can wake you._

_It was Loki, the god of fire and mischief, who cast this sleeping spell on Sif. He found her dozing with her gorgeous hair flowing all around her, and he smiled at this chance to make trouble in the Thunder-God's household. He knew that Sif's hair of gold was Thor's greatest treasure - and he was determined to take it away from him._

_While she was asleep, Loki took his shears and chopped off Sif's hair, every single lovely lock! One by one they tumbled onto her shoulders and down her dress. He cut her hair until she was bald - the poor thing!"_

"Loki isn't very nice, is he mommy?" Danny asked with a frown.

"No, he's not," Maddie sighed, as if she'd had first-hand experience with the trickster god.

"Odin should have put him in time out!"

The red-haired woman laughed. "You're right, Danny. He should have."

"_A while later, Sif woke up. Her head and neck felt cold and light, - she looked up and saw the sun was still shining. Then she felt for her hair, but there was nothing there! Looking down, she caught sight of the clusters of curls that lay all around her. Horrified, she rushed inside and burst into tears… and rain fell in bucketfuls on all the corn in the north, so the people asked "What in heaven's happened to Sif?" She continued to cry and cry._

_That night Thor came home. But when he called to his lovely wife, he did not hear her sweet voice in reply. Thor thought she must be somewhere else, so he put his hammer down, and whistled as he walked over to the homes and palaces of the other gods to look for her. Sif was nowhere to be found. Sadly, Thor came home, he did not like coming back to an empty house. "Sif," he called again and again, "come back to me."_

_And then he heard his name, in a whisper. Sif stood in the shadows, so that Thor could only see her outline._

"_My husband," she sobbed, "I am ashamed for you to set your eyes on me. I must leave Asgard, the home of the gods, which is beautiful and perfect, and go to hide elsewhere."_

"_Don't speak like that. What has happened to you my sweet, that you say such terrible things?" asked the Thunder-God tenderly. "Come out so that I can see you."_

"_My crowning beauty, my hair has gone. An evil-doer has cut it and taken it from me. I do not want you to see me like this, so I must leave."_

_Thor saw that it was true, Sif had lost her hair. Her shaven head was still beautiful, but the dancing joy had left her eyes. Instead her face was puffy from sobbing. Her distress touched the heart of Thor._

_And then the men of the Earth heard the skies roar with agonised Thunder, coming from Thor himself._

"_Who was it who did this, Sif?" raged Thor. "I, the strongest of the gods, I will find whoever did this and kill him. I will make the other gods use all their strength, all their magic and all their powers to give you back your wonderful golden hair!"_

"Would daddy do that for you, mommy?" Danny asked with wide eyes. Thor kind of sounded like his father, after all.

"Of course, sweetie," she replied, planting a kiss on his forehead.

_Since Sif didn't know who did it, Thor led her, in a veil, to the Court of the Immortals, where some of the other gods and goddesses were seated on crystal benches sipping their drinks. None of them could tell Thor who had cut Sif's hair. Finally Odin, the chief of the gods, and the father of Thor, spoke. _

"_It must have been Loki who did this," he pronounced. "He is the god of fire, and we all know that fire can wreak much mischief. Nobody else would do such a thing. Though fire was not the cause of this, a great mischief it was, and Loki has ever loved mischief. But Thor, you must not kill him here. There can be no killings among the gods in Asgard. I will find Loki for you. But do not kill him. Besides, he has many skills, and maybe he will find a way to return Sif's beauty to her."_

"_Hmph," grunted Thor who was red with rage. "I'd like to kill him! … but that wouldn't help Sif." _

_Odin spoke again, "Control your rage, my son. I will call the Call, and all must answer it, even Loki!"_

_Odin's Call was terrible to hear, but all the gods and goddesses who were not in the Council chamber had to leave what they were doing and assemble, even Loki. Loki saw at once that everyone was against him, so he said, "Where is your proof that I am the culprit?" _

"_Come", said Odin. "Do not lie, and do not avoid the truth. You have done Sif and Thor a great wrong, and you must repair it!"_

Danny gasped, leaning closer to his mother. "So what did Loki do?"

"You'll see," she said with a chuckle, knowing her son loved these stories.

"_I cannot grow hair," joked Loki. "And even if I could, it would not be on her head!" _

_None of the gods laughed. _

_Loki looked at Thor, whose temper was legendary, and he looked at Odin, who solemnly said again, "You must make good the wrong you have done."_

_Loki saw that he would indeed have to find a way to restore Sif's beauty._

_So Loki left Asgard. He did not leave in order to escape from Thor, though that was part of it. He left to try and find a solution. He did not go to the Giants in Jotunheim, even though he had been there before, and had friends there – as far as it is possible to have friends among the Giants – and he did not go to Midgard, the land of the mortals. For he knew that there had never been a man or woman who could do anything that would restore Sif's hair. No, Loki went under the earth."_

"He went under it!?" Danny gasped, shocked.

"He's a tricky god," his mother joked with a smile.

"_This is not something that you or I could do, for the innards of the earth are molten hot and we would not survive. But Loki was the god of fire, and so he was able to go down and down inside the passages of the earth. That is where the Gnomes live. You might think the gnomes were ugly, but they didn't think so, and Loki didn't mind. Down inside the earth, the Gnomes were master smiths and the rich guardians of metals, minerals and crystals: they had learnt with hammer and tongs to fashion articles of much beauty and magic from them. Loki had seen them make a magic spear that hit whatever it was thrown at, and a boat which could sail anywhere, and which you could fold and put in your pocket._

_Loki was crafty, and he always flattered the Gnomes whenever he went to see them. He praised their work to the skies, and promised them the earth although they already had it! Resisting flattery and false promises needs more wisdom than the Gnomes possessed, so they grew to like him. Nobody else had ever been nice to them, not even when they were babies, so their hearts softened. _

_Then he said, "Have you gold and skills enough to make a cap of floor-length hair as fine as silk?" The Gnomes set to work at once. They stitched, threaded, weaved and spinned for days, until finally the Cap of Golden Hair was ready! Even Loki was impressed by their work. _

"'_Tis true, you are master smiths indeed. None are better. Will you give me this Cap in return for the Heavens and the Earth?"_

_The Gnomes, who were not clever, gave Loki the Cap of Golden Hair, although the Earth was already theirs, and the Heavens were not Loki's to give."_

"But lying is bad, mommy. Didn't Loki's mommy teach him not to lie?" Danny asked with a frown and a yawn. The boy was getting tired.

"No, she didn't, but that's a story for another day," she answered.

"_Loki said his farewells, and was glad to return to the fresh air of Midgard with the Cap. Then he ascended to Asgard and the Heavens and went to find Sif. "Take your veil off, Sif," he said, "for you will have golden hair again". And he wrapped the Cap around Sif's head where it fitted perfectly. Sif was so overjoyed with her new hair that she twirled around, her long locks flowing behind her. Her eyes sparkled once more and as the glow returned to her cheeks, she looked truly beautiful._

_And that is the story of how Sif lost and regained her golden hair."_

Maddie heard soft snores as she looked to her son, who was finally asleep. She got up, walking back to the doorway.

"Goodnight, ástin mín," she said softly, closing the door.


End file.
